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What Credit Bureau Does Each Bank Check in Canada?

Whenever you apply for a credit product in Canada, the lender will check your credit history from one or both of the two credit bureaus in Canada: TransUnion or Equifax. Since each credit check negatively impacts your credit history, it’s important to know which lender pulls what, helping you “stack” your credit churning appropriately and limiting the damage to any particular credit bureau.

An ‘X’ indicates the bureau used by the creditor. TransUnion is indicated in green, while Equifax is indicated in red. Most creditors only pull one bureau, with the exception of Capital One, who pulls both. A blue tab with a number indicates that the creditor may also pull from that bureau. An explanatory note for any blue and numbered entry is provided after the table.

If you have a different experience than listed, please comment, and I’ll update the table accordingly.

CREDITOR TRANSUNION EQUIFAX
American Express X 1
Bank of Montreal X
CAA Mastercard X
Canadian Tire (CTFS) X
Capital One X X
CIBC X
Citi Canada X
Desjardins X
Chase X
HSBC X
MBNA X 2
National Bank  X
PC Financial X
Rogers Bank (Rogers/Fido Mastercard) X
Royal Bank of Canada X
Scotiabank X
Tangerine  X
TD Canada Trust  X
TD Bank USA (for Canadian Applicants) X
Vancity X
Wal-Mart Mastercard X

1: American Express occasionally pulls Equifax instead of TransUnion. It appears to apply to people with frequent AMEX history.

2: MBNA may pull Equifax after pulling Transunion if they require more information.

Most of this information was pulled from Red Flag Deals

49 Comments

  1. RBE definitely looks at both! I got a Visa in Feb 2017 and there are inquiries on both of my credit reports. Equifax and TransUnion.

    1. Yeah I applied a few days ago they definitely pull equifax. In my experience transunion always seem to score better than equifax.

  2. CIBC just checked my EQ twice for an overdraft that I applied for in branch.
    PC Financial checked my EQ first, then went to TU and did two hits on the same day before approving the account- a bit annoying….

    1. 2 hits from the same bank on the same day counts as 1hit really. Just like car dealerships checking many banks within a 2 week period counts as one since you’re just trying to find the best interest rates.

  3. 1.Amex strictly TS.

    2.BMO & Scotiabank use EQ for initial app CC opening but also use TS for $$ credit increases. Most CC limit increases they use TS.

    3. National bank use Both same single app.

    4.Most telephone or Cable accounts like Rogers Bell use Both.

    5.Amex sometimes dont check hard credit check at all but pull soft credit check on both TS & EQ. They did not pull hard credit on me or family members but got rejected on online 2 accounts and they did review on both TS & EQ and it shows they did 4 soft crdit checks on both TS & EQ for Cash back card & Airmiles Gold.

    1. Have heard from an ex-AMEX employee that they preferred going for EQ unless further information is required.

    1. Meridian Credit union offers credit cards through Collabria Financial Services. In my case, credit inquiries are through Equifax but twice (One by Meridian and another by Collabria) for Meridian Visa card

  4. Capital One showed on my Equifax, but not on TransUnion. Also, for anyone concerned, Virgin mobile checked my Equifax.

    1. I am quite sure they too issue their credit cards via Collabria. If they do, it would hit on your EQ followed by reporting to TS. I have a Collabria card which doesn’t reflect a hard hit on my TS but has after a few months started showing up on the report with monthly updates.

  5. Vancity Visa used Transunion in my case but Vancity Credit Union used Equifax for the Line of Credit I applied for so it possibly does that for loans as well

    1. I applied twice for PC financial card and my score was 671 at Transunion, score at equifax was very low at 500. I think PC used equifax for mine. Unless you require a higher score than 671 to get a credit card.

    2. I don’t think so. I managed to run two different credit files. TS got linked but EQ did not. The new one has a good score and PC sent a letter saying “you’re approved”. My TS is not showing new files hits from credit unions and collabria.

    3. It does indeed (I haven’t checked my EQ) but it is mind boggling why would they issue me a CC with a 522 score (was a bit lower then). And give an unsecured $500. Perhaps because of another $1500 CC in good standing?

  6. Desjardins is a huge YMMV. I know for some, if you apply in-store (For example, The Source) they pull TransUnion. Not 100% sure which one they pull if you apply online.

    However, if you apply for a regular VISA (eg Modulo) chances are it’ll be Equifax that will be pulled.

    Individual Caisses (branches) actually have the option of pulling either one (saw it myself when I was opening up an account) – though presumably they’ll go for Equifax first.

  7. Dec 22 2018…PC did 2 hits on TU & 1 on EQ.

    Please add Collabria to your list and for that matter all credit unions. Collabria goes off EQ.

  8. How can both eq and Transunion have a large gap in ratings. My eq rating is a lot better than Transunion?

  9. Td goes thru Equifax..Wal-Mart Transunion..I got approved a Td card limit 1500 but turned down for Wal-Mart thru TN..both different score

  10. BMO – Pulled EQ when opening a personal bank account….BUT

    when I opened a business account at the same time, I also got a hard pull on TransUnion.

  11. When I got my first AMEX card (essential) they checked equifax. After a few years I applied for other AMEX (Cobalt) and they checked Transunion, so I think is the oposite.

    Tangerine Check TransUnion

    Canadian Tire check Transunion

    Rogers / Fido check Transunion all the time

    HSBC check equifax

    BMO check transunion, at least for credit cards

  12. When I applied for an Amex Essential low interest card in May 2018, they didn’t do any inquiry on either Equifax or Transunion. I don’t have any idea how that happened, but I was instantly approved for a 3,000 card when I did the online application. It went up to 7,000 in 3 months, and then 10, 000.

    Wondering if anyone knows if a simple change of address would cause Amex and Tangerine to rescind pre approval credit limit increase from (Amex), or pre approval 25,000 (angerinee). Absolutely nothing changed in either Equifax or Transunion but my updating my address and both pre approvals disappeared before the date I had to accept by. I have excellent credit on both bureaus. Tangerine sends me the 25000 pre approval every 3 months which I have never accepted because I don’t really need it, and I don’t want to decrease my score on Equifax for length of credit history. I have a 1 or 2 % debt to credit ratio, 2 cards over 10,000$, and every card I have has been paid in full on time every month. I am totally stumped. I don’t need the credit, but I am very curious to know if an address change would cause these 2 offers to essentially disappear??

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